John 4:27 Commentary and Bible Study

The disciples return and the conversation ceases. Silently they think, ‘What is he doing, speaking with this Samaritan woman? We do not speak with Samaritans. Why would he wish to speak with her?’ They regarded him as a Rabbi, and in their tradition for social reasons a Rabbi would never speak with a woman. (Here, in passing, is the emancipation of women that Christ brings.) Yet they already knew not to ask what he was doing; their respect for him was too great; they knew all that he did was perfect. This is the beginning of the training of the disciples. They had already been called to seek for souls, to be fishers of men. There were at least half a dozen disciples at this stage, but they have no grasp yet of the Lord’s concern, and what should be their concern, for individuals. They had not yet grasped the harvest of souls that was to come, their work as future apostles, their witness, their tireless testimony to individuals and also to great crowds, and the testimony of all Christian people.